NIAMEY, Niger, Feb 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Niger's army said Wednesday that 10 soldiers died in an "ambush" in the western Tillaberi region near Burkina Faso, where authorities have been battling a jihadist insurgency.

The attack by "a group of criminals" on Monday targeted a military unit searching for suspected cattle thieves, the army said in its latest operations update.

"Unfortunately land and air reinforcements were unable to find the attackers," the army said.

But it said that on Tuesday it had located the attackers and launched air strikes that killed 15 in an area where thousands of freight trucks pass through each day between Niger and the port of Lome in Togo, often under military escort.

The frontier lands between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have long been a hideout for jihadists linked to the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda, who have waged a bloody insurgent war against the government.

Niger's military seized power in a July 2023 coup that toppled elected president Mohamed Bazoum, who had been a key ally in fighting militancies in sub-Saharan Africa.